Presently, systems for third party backup and management of digital files exist that provide periodic copying of digital files from designated locations to an off-site facility where such digital files are kept securely for backup purposes, and are searchable in the event of inaccessibility of the original files.
These systems, however, do not provide day-to-day user flexibility and control of file input, and do not provide appropriate legal safeguarding of files to ensure availability and admissibility of such files if needed at a later date to prove that each file was created on a specific date and has not been changed since that date.
One of the challenges users of file backup and management systems have is that, while they can designate file locations for backup, they cannot easily make a new decision each day as to which files are to be backed up and then made available for group-wide or enterprise-wide search, and which are not. Moreover, users might need to prove the creation of a particular document on a particular date, years after the creation of the document, and can only do so with a system that safeguards documents at or near the time of creation in such a way that they will be available and admissible at an adversarial proceeding in the future.
These existing systems also include electronic lab notebooks, which have been designed to enable users to store information in a more deliberate manner and controlled manner. The problem with these systems, though, is that they require users to adopt the information entry method of the electronic lab notebook. This is a problem because users are accustomed to creating files in more traditional formats such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, HTML, PDF, RTF, and others, and they often will not take the extra step to move their text and drawings into a separate format or system. The result is that the electronic lab notebooks often get far less use than is needed to protect a company's intellectual property.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and apparatus for electronic file aggregation, search, back-up, and legal safeguarding that is provides users with day-today control over files they input, ease of file entry, and transparent legal safeguarding of files prior to long term storage.